NEW ORLEANS — When even one part of a system breaks down, the entire system fails. In the New Orleans criminal justice system, every part is broken in some way — from City Hall and cops to the district attorney and courts.
Here's a case in point: 18-year-old Quinton Skipper's record includes multiple arrests for carjackings and other violent crimes. In a special report last night — and in another tonight at 10 — Eyewitness News investigator Mike Perlstein shows how Skipper literally fell through the cracks in a broken juvenile justice system.
Skipper now faces up to 99 years in jail, after the system turned him loose rather than address his diagnosed mental illness. Skipper's history teaches us a hard lesson: When the criminal justice system breaks down, everyone loses.
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